MK vs DOA
by sitebender
Summary: This takes place in DOA2 / MK4 both in 1999 when Shinnok invades Earth, DOA and MK must join forces to stop him and evil will join forces to stop the heroes. With so many characters, this will either be a shmozz or puzzle pieces that will make a picture.
1. Chapter 1: Helena

CHAPTER 1: A YEAR BEFORE

Her eyes were big and beautiful, the same color as the clear blue sky above France's opera house. Above her eyes there were two thinly plucked eyebrows that streamed perfectly over her eyes. Bangs of blonde were elegantly at both sides of her face; a mirror image of one another. In her light blonde hair was done up beautifully, and held up a large crimson ribbon. Her hair style of hair hid the fact that when it was down, the hair would come to the back of her knees.

She was at center stage of the opera house; dolled up with an audience of thousands looking at her. There was no microphone, nor was there any music from a band. The only sound in that opera house came from the amazing soprano singing voice of Helena.

The women in the audience had come to France to hear her world famous voice. As for the men, they were in the crowd, not just because their wives brought them, but Helena was a gem for the eyes. Her voice wasn't her only endowment as her bust was heaved up in a red opera suit with lace trim that ruffled at her bosom. At her neck was a strap that pulled her collar close together at her neck.

At her waist was crimson red corset that cinched her thin frame even more. The opera coat's tails draped over her posterior and went almost to the floor.

Helena stood there singing in her pure white tights and crimson shoes with a low heel. It was the opening song in what would make for an absolutely memorable night for so many reasons.

This was merely one event in a series that had been unfolding for millions of years. Long ago two gods clashed over the Earth. One was the god of light, and the other the god of dark. They struggled for a century of battle.

The darkened sky flickered with long volts of lightning. The entire planet was thrown into a chaos that killed all of the inhabitants. The god of light was a humble nurturer, but the god of dark was a grand destroyer that sought to freeze the entire planet with the black of night.

In the skies is where the two gods battled, but occasionally one of them would tumble out of the clouds and plummet to the Earth below. This particular time, it was the god of light named Raiden.

His long grey hair flailed as he fell from the dark sky. When he splashed into the Earth it left a crater gigantic in size and sent a tidal wave of water across much of the planet.

It was a much more hostile land, millions of years ago. There were volcanoes, rain forests and giant reptilian creatures.

After the crash, Raiden's eyes turned from glowing white to dim. His thunderous voice had been silenced. His body was broken at the center of a crater and no one was there to help him.

From the sky came the god of dark with a leap so mighty it would have killed any creature that inhabited the Earth at that or any time. The god of dark slammed into the ground on a single knee next to Raiden that sent a putrid screen of ash into the air.

The ash would never clear for nearly millions of years afterward. With a bold triumph, the god of dark stood up and looked down upon Raiden.

The god of dark did not wear a humble garb like his counterpart. Shinnok, the god of dark wore regal robes with purple velvet and crimson boots. His skin was a pale blue from not having ever experienced sunlight and eyes flickered with a white energy as he looked at Raiden.

Shinnok spoke the words, "Dark will always win, because it never runs out of energy." Raiden remained motionless in the crater with his humble white garb charred and tattered from both the battle and the fall.

There were no other words, just the footsteps of Shinnok that grew closer to Raiden until they stood beside him. The ash sky began to swirl and open up into a single hole above Shinnok.

Before Shinnok knew what happened, he was violently yanked from the Earth's surface in the air as he kicked and screamed. He was pulled into the hole in the sky, never to be heard from again for millions of years.

Raiden is a humble nurturer, he is not overbearing, he grants Earth several hours of light each day. Even with the disappearance of the god of dark, it would still be beneficial to the Earth, because light is an energy that needs fuel, while dark is always constant.

After his loss, Raiden was never the same, nor was his power. He only had control over thunder. It was still a light and energy, just not as nearly powerful as that of the sun.

Back in France away from the epic battle that had ended in a no contest, night surrounded the famed opera house. Helena's mother was in the center of the first row looking up at her daughter with tears in her eyes.

In front of the blonde Maria was a stage so tall no one could have climbed it, not even with a running start. At each side of the elegantly carved stage was a staircase; each with a red carpet that lead up onto stage.

Maria was overjoyed at her daughter's finest night in Paris. She could not just bask in the moment and forget where she was. The proud mother had to look around and see the faces of the audience. They were each awestruck, either by the beauty of Helena's voice or struck by her charm and amazing stage presence.

As the proud mother looked around, she saw a shadowy figure on one of the dozens of balconies. It would not have caught her attention, but there was a gleam that came from the figure. The glam was the reflection of a rifle scope and the barrel was pointed toward center stage.

Helena was in jeopardy and like any mother she tried to warn her daughter as the rifle shifted to take aim. She called out her daughter's name, "Helena!" However, the opera house is designed for sound to go away from the stage, not toward it. Even though Helena's voice was a soprano, it still greatly overpowered her mother's.

On stage, the beautiful Helena was focused on her singing and the audience as a whole. She never stayed focused on just one person, even if that one person was her mother.

The song was nearing completion and the rifle was ready. Maria jumped a wooden railing that lined the front row and ran across the floor. As gentlemen in black suits tried to stop her from reaching one of the twin staircases, the heel on her black open toed shoe broke and she fell to the ground. Her shoes were held on by long ribbon straps that coiled up her calves.

That was just what she needed, to get lower than the two big security men. She quickly crawled past them and they turned around to follow her. One of them grabbed at her foot. Time was running out, so Maria violently kicked the guard in the face with her missing heel.

He was stunned and dropped to one knee, letting Maria go, she continued on her mission. She still screamed, "Helena!" Security tried to catch her, but one mother's determination on one heel was too much for them to keep up with.

The song had just ended to a huge applause with Helena's sky blue eyes almost in tears at the fact she had survived just the opening act. She took a bow, and when she came up, her mother leapt in the way.

A bullet from the high powered rifle had shot through Maria's neck and sent her neck with a vicious jerk to the side. There was an immense spatter of blood on Helena's face and cleavage. She was in shock and everything went silent in the deafening roars of thousands of people screaming.

The assassin disappeared into the shadows and half a dozen men in black suits dove on Helena to protect her. One of them was on a walkie-talkie screaming something, but it was all silent. Helena reached out for her mother's hand as she lay dying at the center of the stage.

Maria's crimson blood was gushing onto the red carpet with her face looking at Helena's. Their eyes were both sky blue, only one pair of eyes blinked; the others were beginning to shallowly close. Helena kept yelling for her mother, but her eyes grew devoid of life.

More men in black suits rushed onto the stage for security as the tried to seek out where the assassin was. It was all like a nightmare fading into day for Helena.

Just then a Chinese man woke up in a sweaty panic. His long dark hair was frazzled and he sat there for a moment to catch his breath. His chest was bare and displayed what a chiseled, lean fighting machine should look like. After he caught his breath, he threw the sheets to the side and took off from his bed.

The red sun was just rising in China as the man left his humble quarters. His fellow monks in their orange garbs were in frenzy and each ran up the stairs to the top of the temple.

As for the man with the nightmare, he held onto the stone frame of the doorway for a moment. Without asking the others where they were going, he already knew where they were headed. He took out a thin red strap of cloth and tied it around his forehead. After it was in a lose knot behind his head, he yanked the straps tight and looked forward.


	2. Chapter 2: Tina & Bass Armstrong

CHAPTER 2: THE RING

CHAPTER 2: THE RING

Trekking across the desert was a large semi that pulled a blue trailer with the initials DWA marked in yellow on it. On the side of the trailer was the face of a beautiful blonde woman with short hair with a wink. One eye was closed and one finger was pointed forward in the giant photo that covered the side of the blue trailer.

The semi drove past a diamond shaped sign that read Las Vegas. It was carrying the ring equipment for another form of entertainment set apart from the class of opera. Yet it was similar to opera, it was a soap opera for guys.

An arena full of men, beer swilling fathers and gawky teenage boys were all being entertained by one woman amongst a promotion full of men. There she was with her arms raised and the small bald man with a mustache and a microphone announced her as, "The challenger; Tina Armstrong!"

She stepped forward and a dark scowl overtook the tough beauty of her southern bell face. Her blonde hair draped down. She pointed her finger forward at her opponent; a woman in a black mask that was clearly inferior to Tina in every way. Tina was obviously more powerful, with tone, lean muscles, and clearly taller than her small wiry opponent. Her skin was tan from years of working out in the sun on a farm, while the champ's skin was pale from years of training in a gym. Tina had an advantage everywhere, including the blonde hair and the chest that made the men pay their money to see her.

With a switch of her finger to her thumb she pointed at her own neck and cut across it with her finger nail. The crowd roared, they knew the the outcome would be, but they had come to be entertained.

Tina paced her corner of the ring as the champion was announced to the crowd that was chanting, "Tee-Na! Tee-Na! Tee-Na!" A tower of a man stood behind Tina in her corner. A scruffy man covered with muscles and enough black leather to have killed a herd of cows. His long blonde hair was slicked back under a black bandana, and he wore big dark sunglasses even though they were indoors.

Lights of fanfare beamed through the arena to create a rainbow and party like atmosphere inside of the ring. Fireworks went off as the slender pale opponent took a bow to her opponent Tina, then took a bow to her corner man; a small Japanese man with a thin mustache, dark sunglasses, and a great head of hair.

As fireworks burst in the air, he gave a bow in respect to the champion with the champ's belt over his shoulder. Once the fireworks subsided the small male referee asked if both women were ready, he then divided the ring with a quick chop and yelled, "Let's wrestle!"

The lights in the air did not subside and the flash photography began as the two women met in the center of the ring. On the outside, the tall man in leather dropped to the concrete floor and began to intimidate the much smaller man in the corner of the champ.

Tina battled the champion marvelously. There were chops, kicks, and punches. Rarely was any wrestling actually used, but the fans didn't mind. After a mere minute came Tina's patented Tina driver. She scooped the champion up in her mighty grasp, turned her opponent completely upside-down and dropped straight down. The masked head of the opponent went straight between Tina's open legs as Tina landed in a seated position.

The champ was out and down as the referee counted the, "One; two; three!" Tina was victorious and raised her arms in the air with a glorious pose to the crowd. The fringe on her white armbands streamed through the air to make her pose more noticeable. There she was in a pair of white cowboy boots and her black wrestling attire that consisted of an athletic bikini bottom and a bigger bra top that most men could fantasize about.

As the ring announcer tried to take away the championship to award it to Tina, the small Japanese man took the microphone away from him. The man jerked the title back on his shoulder and away from the announcer. He then spoke broken English, "Tina is no champion!"

He approached the ring as the champion or former champion held her neck and the top of her head. The man announced, "Tina has now earned a shot against champion!" The crowed began to boo and some of them threw their soft drinks at him.

Then to clear up any confusion, the small man from Japan unmasked the wrestler. He tore the mask off of her face and she was in no condition to prevent it. Then he announced to the crowd, the television cameras and to Tina, "She is no champion!"

Music began to play and spotlights shined on the entrance on top of a long steel ramp. With a broad gesture of his arm, he yelled and pointed to the spotlights, "I introduce your real DWA women's champ!"

A woman in a long sleek black robe appeared and strut to the ringside as rock guitars could be heard. She threw out black rose petals into the crowd and the man on the microphone threw black streamers from each hand that covered the ring in a dark web.

Tina didn't know what to think, as the giant man in her corner said, "Its okay darlin'! You got this!" He tried to give her a shoulder massage, but she shied away from him.

The champion had the same black mask that the previous woman had along with the same slender build, pale skin and black fishnet bodysuit with a bikini underneath.

Once the woman reached the ring, she went to the top turnbuckle of the three roped ring and she looked to the crowd. Everyone in the building was booing her except for the man with her championship belt. He politely clapped until the masked woman jumped into the ring.

The man with the belt on his shoulder announced a condition that Tina would get the match, "There is one condition to this match Tina Armstrong."

The cameras could see her mouth the words, "Yeah what's that?" She gave an angry nod to him almost in disgust.

"Your father Bass cannot be at ringside," screamed the short man as he laughed manically! Five referees in black and white striped shirts appeared behind Bass and tried to get him to go along quietly.

Tina wanted to do it alone, and she pointed for her father to, "Just go daddy!"

He pointed back and took off his sunglasses and said, "This doesn't affect our deal little girl!"

She rolled her shoulders and loosened up one arm at a time as she looked to her opponent that stood perched over her. Tina told her father, "You brought me to the mine; now I'm gonna bring home the gold."

The referees tried to politely escort Bass away from ringside, but he lifted his fist and threw it at one of their faces. Bass pulled his fist short of bashing in the referee's face to the laughter of the crowd.

When the black boots of the champion hit the ring, the short man from Japan gave her the championship belt. She raised it above her head. With a sign of a line, she laid out the belt flat at the center of the ring and gestured to make a line in the mat with her foot. She wanted Tina to step over it.

From the crowd a nameless fan screamed out, "Tina marry me!" She turned to him with a silly smile and said, "How about I win first?"

Without hesitation, the masked champion took advantage of the distraction and clubbed Tina in the side of the head with a forearm. The beating started full of slow wrestling maneuvers to keep Tina down on the mat; wrist locks that had Tina on the ground and her opponent's thigh across Tina's face. Every other hold was to Tina's right arm in an attempt to weaken her muscles.

But eventually Tina fought back with only her left arm and a few kicks. She battled back and her opponent stumbled to the ropes. Tina had her right where she wanted as the blonde woman screamed, "I got you like a hose in a gopher hole!"

When Tina tried to grapple with her opponent, the masked woman took off and spun away from Tina. Then as Tina turned around, she was grabbed around the waist by the small Japanese man with a great head of hair.

Tina struggled and commented, "I've had cubs give me better hugs than this!" Outside of the ring Bass could see what was happening.

Even though he was surrounded by five referees, it did not stop him from helping his daughter. His rage exploded and he sent the five referees into the air. One of the referees tumbled backward down the ramp; two others were flung into the crowd that began to body surf them. The other two were just shaken and one of which ran way from the large Bass.

With a running start her opponent vaulted off the ropes with a hand spring back flip that turned into an elbow attack. Tina escaped the waist hug and the masked woman collided with her help.

As Bass crawled up onto the ring apron to enter the ring, Tina yelled to with her southern accent, "I can handle it dad!" He dropped to the concrete floor, but still had a scowl on his scruffy face.

She turned around and leapt into the air to deliver double boots into the chest of the man who tumbled backward and into Bass's waiting arms. Bass could be heard growling at the man in his arms.

Meanwhile in the ring, the champion was in a daze from a flurry of attacks and slams from Tina. When the champion stood up one last time, she had the champion's head under her good arm. She then hooked the champ's leg with her bad arm, tugged back with her body and Tina arched her back to snap the champion up and over.

They both landed with a crash, with the champ on her back and Tina had her back arched to the cheer of men at her flexibility. The referee slid on the bat and made the count as he yelled, "One; Two; Three!"

Tina released the bridging arch of her body, and fell to the mat on her back. She laid there to bask in the moment as red, white and blue balloons began to fall from the sky. The referee raised her arm as she lied there on the canvas.

Her father ran in and picked her up off the ground to celebrate. He and the referee each took one of Tina's arms and raised them to the sky as the bald announcer entered the ring. He had a microphone with him and Bass slapped the belt into her daughter's grasp.

It was her moment and the ring announcer shoved a microphone in her face and asked her, "Now that you're the new DWA women's champion; what will Tina Armstrong do now?" She grasped her title and threw it around her shoulder with a big grin.

She looked at it and said, "Well I'm gonna defend this bad boy, but in the meantime I say lets go to an island, and get drunk! Kegs are on me!" With the whirl of her arm, she turned around and said, "And everyone in the building, and all those people at home; you're all invited!"

Her father grabbed the hand of the announcer with the microphone. Bass then pulled the microphone close to his own face and said, "No, she's going with me to attend an opera!"

The short man with a microphone asked, "Opera? I can't imagine either one of you stepping ten feet away from a ring!"

With a snort of laughter, Tina said into the microphone, "Not unless it's to go to the john back in that dressing room."

Bass told the world, "Tina and I made a bargain, I brought her to this here title and now she's gonna be a lady!"

Tina leaned into the microphone and said, "Aw shoot paw, ain't no body like no classy lady!" With that she let out a scream and raised her arm.

Bass told her, "You made a promise and now by gum you're gonna keep it! We're gonna get you classed up little lady!" With that said, Tina turned around and raised her championship up to the crowd and cameras. Bass then added, "And you can start by pulling your tights out of your moon crack!"

Tina's tights were wedged up there and revealing more muscle than usual to the crowd full of gawking teenage boys with their cameras.

Meanwhile, amongst the commotion, the small man from Japan and the referee of the match were checking on the former champion. The referee called for medical attention, cause she had not moved since her loss.

Bass and Tina looked down to the broken woman and Bass commented into the microphone, "That's what I'm talking about Tina! You can't go around crippling people! Sometimes my daughter just doesn't know her strength!"

As two men in white shirts and a stretcher worked their way down the metal ramp, the small man from Japan stood up to his feet. He began to push Bass's massive chest and scream. With each word screamed the man's hair bopped up and down. Eventually he screamed, "There goes my meal ticket!"

Bass then grabbed the small man in a tight hug. The hug was around the man's lower back as he began to flail his arms to get loose. However, the giant man dressed as a biker continued to tighten his grip around the man's body as he slowly uttered, "There… Goes… Your… Spine!" With that a chilling crack was heard and the man's eyes went into a wide eyed panic after his sun glasses fell off to the mat.

The small man was dropped to the ground without a bounce. Tina yelled into the microphone an even more cheesy line, "You're right dad, let's take a break and get away from all of these lights!"

Bass grabbed the microphone and said, "Next time you see these two bombshells will be in the celebrity section of the opera!" He glanced behind his daughter and her posterior and uttered, "Now pull out your moon creeper before you stain your tights."


	3. Chapter 3: Jann Lee & Leifang

CHAPTER 3: JANN LEE & LEIFANG

CHAPTER 3: JANN LEE & LEIFANG

Almost one year later in the busy Chinese city of Beijing, posters could be found on the side of every building, bus and tree. In a sea of dark hair and short bodies, these posters stood out and became the topic of conversation everywhere. The woman on the poster with sky blue eyes, long blonde hair and it was her looks that garnered their attention.

The majority of the populous did not care that the woman on the posters was a famous opera singer. They just knew that she was something special. Something that either gained the attention of men's pants or something that the women laughed in ridicule, it had their attention.

Helena and her soprano singing voice had more than the attention of Beijing. It seemed like the entire universe would converge inside of that opera house that night.

Two employees of the giant theater were caught in one another's embrace. Even a normally short man with tall spiky hair still towered over the tiny woman caught in his embrace.

He wore a sleek black jacket with a white shirt and tie beneath of it with pants that matched the jacket. Underneath the jacket was his lean, physique without an ounce of fat. No one in the building had seen what was under his shirt except for the woman next to him.

Crowds passed by, but no one noticed the two behind the corner near the janitor's broom closet. As the crowd filtered into the building, she told him, "I need to go get back to work." She tried to push him away, but he just held her tighter and positioned his head for a kiss.

She told him again with a slight stern sound in her voice, "Not now bad boy!" He persisted, and she secretly wanted him to. She pushed away, but without any force as if she were trying to lightly touch a feather.

Her finger nails pressed lightly into his chest and he squinted his eyes at her and boldly stated, "You; me; the grill of my car after closing time?"

She looked to his chest and noticed her finger nails had a chip of paint before she looked back up to his eyes and smiled, "I'm dying to get out of this uniform, but let's say back seat of my car." Her uniform was a hideous green color for the most part with crimson trim. She wore a black slim shirt beneath of her green uniform vest that had long crimson colored sleeves.

Then with the slightest bite of her lip, she seductively said, "At dinner break."

He said without a smile or hesitation, "Deal." With that he pulled her tight and gave her a kiss that made Leifang's universe stop for an instant. She felt faint immediately in his arms, but he continued to hold her up from falling against the wall. Her long black hair was done in twin rolls near her ears. Her black hair swayed in slow motion as she opened her mouth ever so slightly.

After he gave her the kiss he loosened his tie and said, "Save that thought."

Lei Mei fell against the wall with her knees bent. She just looked at him and in a daze she asked, "What thought?" Her mind was paused and her eyes were fixated on Jann Lee's tall hair so full of product that it must be like cement.

Then something else caught her eye as Jann Lee began to look around for anyone that may have noticed the kiss. Leifang noticed a genetic beauty enter the opera house. Her body perked up at the beauty. It was like something she had never felt before inside of her.

Leifang's body was wobbly as she stood tall again, but still with her hand on the wall. Jann Lee pointed out to her, "Button up your vest, you know how boss gets."

She uttered to Jann Lee, "You're missing the view."

With a laugh he wondered, "Excuse me?"

Then Lei Mei grabbed his right arm with her right hand and tried to turn him around. She said, "Look at her."

Jann Lee gave a slight turn and Leifang took his head with her ten fingers and guided the direction he should look in. From behind him, she asked, "Isn't she pretty?"

He replied back, "I can't believe you're making me look at other women."

Leifang asked, "I am and isn't she?" She glanced over his shoulder as the woman passed by.

The woman they were both focused on strolled right past them. Hundreds of men and women in China were there in their tuxedos and best evening gowns to look glamorous. This woman was dressed as a princess, in white and bronze trim. Her dress went down to her knees and was open in the front, white gloves covered her hands and two large straps covered her beasts and met at a belt just below her bust. Her shoulders had delicate bands of bronze over them that kept the back of her dress fastened to the back. Her legs were covered with tall white boots and her feet were covered with thin leather straps that went up to her shins and the cherry on top of this female sundae was a diamond tiara.

Jann Lei turned to Leifang and said, "If you like red heads." Neither one of them had actually seen a red head in person, only on television; let alone a Japanese woman with red hair. She stuck out like a sore thumb. Even when she tried to filter into the crowd entering the main doors of the theater, they cleared a path for her.

The ushers eagerly gathered to show her to her seat as Jann Lee fixed his tie. He then walked away and called back to Leifang, "Until dinner break!"

Leifang muttered, "She looks like a princess." She buttoned up her vest and made an appearance to help the other ushers find the seats of important attendees.

As she collected amongst the herd of men and women, she passed by the tall professional wrestler Bass. Even indoors he had his dark black glasses on. He was too busy scratching his arms to notice they were still on.

Bass muttered, "I wanna cut these sleeves off."

His daughter was right next behind him getting pushed into her father. She uttered quietly with her thick southern accent, "And I want this dress off." She then told her father, "And take off your glasses daddy. Ya look like a durn fool."

With that said he took off his glasses and tried to find somewhere on his broad body to put them. Dozens of gold chains that covered his neck gleamed as he told his daughter, "And you're finally gonna get some class."

She stayed close to her father as they moved closer to the theater. Afterward, Tina pulled at the top of her black dress to adjust it and said, "I feel like a two bit chump. Why did we have to come here? We're the only two Americans at an opera in China."

Bass glanced back to his daughter's blonde head and commented, "Being sang by a Frenchwoman; ain't gonna get no classier than that without having to eat the legs of some frog."

"Ya, lucky us," said Tina, before she wondered, "What's this doll's name? Helen-a?"

They were the only two blondes in the crowd and suddenly from behind her, she could hear her name screamed out, "Tina!" She looked back to see who had said it and when she turned she no longer had her father's back hiding her from the mob of international fans.

When she turned around, the entire herd of attendees suddenly became fans of hers as well. They could see the sparkles of her dress and the material missing on it. Her belly button was exposed with a large hole that was designed in the dress. The bust of her dress was clasped together with a thick golden U.

There was almost a gasp from the crowd when they realized it was her. Even out of her ring attire, they knew it was her. Only someone as confident as a professional wearer could have a dress that short without any straps. It was the size of a pillow case.

Her rabid fans called out her name over and over to get her attention, "Tina!" Press photographers gathered around her and snapped pictures of her and her father.

With her hand up, she asked one of them, "You want that flash bulb shoved up your tail pipe?" They continued to snap photos, until Bass grew angry. He unleashed the fury of his black wing tip shoe that smashed one of the photographers and broke the camera and his right orbital bone.

He screamed, "Tina you're a lady. Let me handle this." The entire crowd scattered from around the two of them and she said, "Get 'em daddy."

The remaining photographers ran away before Bass bull rushed after them down the hall past Jann Lee. One of the photographers dropped his camera and Bass smashed it under foot as he chased after them.

Jann Lee could only watch with a smile on his face. Bass roared in anger and flexed inside of his tuxedo. After his anger subsided Bass joined his daughter in the herd of people with his gorgeous daughter.

He then pointed to Jann Lee, "Why don't ya throw out the paparazzo?" Little did Bass know that Jann Lee did not understand the English language, let alone Bass's version of it.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the building there was a knock at a door that was marked with a large golden star. A woman's voice inside yelled out, "I need five minutes!" Beneath of the star it said in capitol letters, "HELENA."

Jann Lee stood at the front doors of the theater and one by one he frisked men and women as they gave their tickets. He would look them over and then go to work of checking everyone for weapons. Some of the women were appalled and Jann Lee would politely remind them in Chinese, "This is for the safety of everyone in the building." The few foreigners were more understanding after what had happened at Helena's last performance.

After a few people had been checked by Jann Lee, a Chinese man with long hair and a red headband stepped forward. Jann Lee looked him over and said in Chinese, "This is an opera pal."

The Chinese man was there in simple clothes. A tattered white shirt stained with dirt and sweat, and baggy black pants that had seen better days.

Jann Lee let out a sigh, put out his hand and asked in a harsh voice, "Ticket?"

The simple man questioned in Chinese, "Ticket?" He did not know that they would want a ticket.

With a bit of frustration, Jann Lee put his hand down and quickly explained, "This is a show, you need a ticket to get in. If it was free, it would be out on the street with all of the other starving artists."

The streets were lined with starving performers. Men with whiskers playing violins and women dancing who begged for any spare change the concert goers could spare. The humble man looked toward the performers, and without any hesitation Jann Lee brushed him aside with his strong forearm.

The two men had virtually the same physique, one hardened by a lifetime of training in a monastery. The other had hardened his body from fighting on the streets and in the dojos breaking the other bodies.

He was brushed away and Jann Lee asked, "Next?" He gestured with two fingers and curled them for a couple to step forward.

The simple man turned back to Jann Lee and said in Chinese, "I have a warning?"

Jann Lee was busy taking the tickets of the next couple, but he still responded, "What is your warning?" He began to frisk one of the concert goers as Jann Lee switched his focus onto the humble man who replied in a monotone voice, "Everyone in this building is going to die."

The fancy ticket holders outside of the building had concern on their faces. Jann Lee stood up and with his hand on the next man's back he said, "You can go in." The man put up some protest, but Jann Lee said, "We will get this settled." The man passed through the doors with his beautiful date as they discussed the situation.

Meanwhile, Jann Lee turned to the simple man and put his two fingers at his chest with a warning of his own. "That warning sounds like a threat."

The simple man retorted, "I am non violent. If I were as evil as the people I am here to warn you about, everyone on this street would have been annihilated by now as a threat to the people inside."

Jann Lee lowered his hand and put his head close to the simple man's ear. He then whispered a question, "You're non violent right?"

The simple man's head turned slightly to Jann Lee and he quietly replied, "Yes."

The spiky haired bouncer took a step back and loosened up his tie. He bent his elbow and held his hand next to his own face. With the snap of his fingers Jann Lee said, "Get him."

Five bouncers all in black stepped out from interior; large Chinese men without smiles; each wearing white shirts with black jackets over them.

The simple man stepped back and uttered, "There is no need for this."

Jann Lee had a smug smile and said, "Oh but I think there is." He pointed to the simple man and said, "Take him in."

With that said, the five men in black suits each with golden dragons on the back tackled the simple man to the ground. They held him down on the ground and Jann Lee tried to hide the display of violence from the ticket holders.

He calmly proclaimed, "This is all to ensure your safety." He said with almost a laugh, "Now I hope everyone has a ticket and not a warning of violence." Each man reached into his pocket and displayed a ticket along with each woman showing a ticket from her purse.

High over everyone's head was a shadowy figure that streamed across the night sky from one building to another. The figure disappeared over the theater's rooftop unknown to everyone on the street below.


	4. Chapter 4: Liu Kang

CHAPTER 4: LIU KANG

CHAPTER 4: LIU KANG

Inside the bowels of the theater was a small table with a single light that hung above it. The pull string of the light was yanked and with a flicker it was turned on. Two chairs were seated across from one another and the mysterious man without a ticket was forced into one of the seats.

Across from him, Jann Lee turned the other chair around and sat down in it. Five men surrounded the two of them, each either cracking their knuckles or giving an evil stare to the mysterious man.

The mysterious man tried to move his wrist to discover that it had been handcuffed to a bar at the side of the table. Jann Lee covered his face with his hands and looked up at the light, before he looked across to the mysterious stranger.

Jann Lee asked, "For the record, what is your name?"

The humble man broke his glance away from his wrist to look at Jann Lee as he replied in Chinese, "My name is Liu Kang."

Jann Lee followed up with another question in Chinese, "And why are we down here now?"

Liu Kang wondered, "Because you are unwilling to accept the warning that I heed?"

"Tell me more about this warning," stated Jann Lee, before he wondered, "Is it Triad; Yakuza perhaps?"

"Neither," replied Liu Kang in a hush tone, "This is from the devil himself." There was an outburst of snickers from the guards and less than polite laughter from Jann Lee.

Jann Lee raised his arm to the side with his elbow bent to signal his men to compose themselves. After that, Jann Lee leaned in closer and quietly asked, "Now which god told you this?"

With a bit of power in his voice, Liu Kang replied, "It was Raiden." There were laughs and snickers amongst the five bouncers and Jann Lee looked to the side with a cringe to not laugh.

He licked his lip ever so slightly and faced Liu Kang again to wonder, "Raiden?"

Liu Kang retorted, "Raiden is the one that defeated the devil and sent him into the Neatherealm before time itself."

Jann Lee grabbed the top of his own chair, leaned in and informed Liu that, "Raiden died out with mythology and religion. I will burst your bubble my friend, but Raiden never existed. He was thought up by some book writer a millennium ago by a man that has long since turned to dust."

With that said the clang of the metal cuffs could be heard as Liu Kang yanked his wrist in insult. Jann Lee politely gestured with his hands forward and told him, "Calm down Liu Kang. Even if your god of thunder does not exist; that does not mean that your warning is not valid."

Liu Kang composed himself, and he could have easily struck Jann Lee for his offensive disbelief. Instead Liu Kang uttered, "I was once like you; jaded and cynical in my disbelief that the powers around us did not truly exist. I am no man of science," Jann Lee looked down at Liu as he interrupted, "obviously." Liu Kang continued, "But I had lost my faith of higher powers that control our world, but then I met the mortal incarnation of Raiden."

Jann Lee could only wonder, "And what did he look like?"

"He was a humble beggar," began Liu Kang, "A man that I had no time for; a man that came to my temple with a warning that the world would end if I did not step forward and face the beast myself." After a pause, Liu added with a laugh, "I snickered at him, just as you do to me."

Jann Lee rudely asked, "Do you really want us to believe that you are Raiden's messenger?"

"No," Liu Kang said with power in his voice, "I am his champion!"

A roar of laughter could be heard from outside the small room at Liu Kang before Jann Lee asked, "A champion that does not believe in violence?"

"I never said that," uttered Liu Kang, who elaborated, "I believe in violence when there is no other resort. I am simply non violent in general."

Jann Lee stood up as he said in Chinese, "Well champion; there is nothing that we cannot handle ourselves. We have learned from the deadly mistakes in France when there was a failed assassination attempt on Helena."

"You do not understand," pleaded Liu Kang in Chinese, "This is about more…" He was cut off by Jann Lee that stood tall looking down upon Liu under the single light in the room.

With his voice raised louder than Liu Kang's, Jann Lee informed him, "There are security posts everywhere; from the front doors to the rooftop."

Meanwhile, on the roof of the building surrounded by steam vents there were five guards posted; men with machine guns and pistols in their holsters. There was a single man that restrained an attack dog. Each man was dressed in black and had a bullet proof vest on along with a dark helmet with a visor over it. This was the security not seen by the public. The security that was clearly ready for action.

The first guard on the roof top had a dagger jammed into hid neck and dragged across. He dropped to the ground to reveal a shadowy figure behind him. Unfortunately no one was looking into the shadows as the guard was dragged deeper into the darkness by the unknown assassin.

The next guard was taken out a second after the first was hidden in the darkness. His throat was slashed and without hitting the ground he was merely dragged into the darkness. The only thing that could be seen was a forearm that had yanked his neck.

As for the next two guards, they walked along side of one another in the open. One of them wondered to the other in Chinese, "Where are Chuen and Wo?" The other one looked astute and said, "Better call it in."

Just when one of the two guards held his ear piece to make the call six small black stars were thrown out of the darkness. Three stars landed in a line that went up each man from their chest and the final star ending up in each of their necks.

One of them gasped as he fell dead, the other staggered around and turned his back to the star thrower. He grabbed his ear piece to make the call, but a sword was jammed through the belly of his thick body armor. That was followed by a dagger that slit his throat like the others.

The attack dog began to bark from a distance. The dog jerked viciously on its leash so much that the guard restraining the dog just let go.

The mysterious assassin disappeared into the steam of one of the vents of the rooftop as the attack dog appeared where the two guards laid dead. The assassin remained in the darkness and cleaned off the blade of the killing sword from the red blood.

The fifth and final guard appeared and noticed his two comrades dead in a large pool of blood. He grabbed his helmet to make the call to warn the others, but he heard his dog barking. Instead of making the call he readied his machine gun and ran to where the dog was barking.

It was an open vent that the dog was barking into; a vent that was along a wall with the door into the building. The dog was intent on going into the vent and tried to jump in.

Instead the guard restrained the dog and merely fired his machinegun deep into the vent. Rounds of bullets went off into the darkness and steam of the vent. After that, the guard laughed and released his dog to go into the open vent.

The guard cried out in Chinese, "Find anything?" Meanwhile, the shadowy wall that stood next to the guard opened a pair of eyes. Then a long smooth blade slashed the guard's throat to a giant gush of blood followed up with a slash down along the back of the guard's knees where his body armor could not protect.

They were all dead; all of the guards on the rooftop and the door into the building was flung open by using a key found on one of the guards. After it slammed shut, the attack dog came out with a large steak in its mouth.

Back in the boiler room, Jann Lee continued to inform Liu Kang about the building's security measures, "Even if someone were to get in through the front door or the rooftop, they would have to contend with hallways full of security personnel. There are ropes to keep the attending public in certain areas of the building, anyone else not wearing a pass will be taken to this little room where we are now and the authorities will be called."

Meanwhile, in a single hallway on one of the upper floors of the building there were a few men in black suits that strolled the area. Each of them was big, tough and had anger management problems. They looked for a fight and welcomed the opportunity to prove their muster.

However, they all fell prey to the assassin when a metal canister came bouncing down a stairwell and out a door into the hallway. One of the men stopped it with his foot and that is when the green gas inside it was set off. The hallway was full and before anyone realized it, they were all asleep or dead, whatever the effects were.

Jann Lee continued to elaborate to Liu Kang in Chinese, "Even after all of that, there are ushers checking for tickets and frisking people at the balconies to make sure no one has a rifle to assassinate Helena."

Just then Leifang received word over her walkie-talkie, "Leifang!" She answered, "Yeah boss?" "Get your ass up to the west wing on the third floor and start taking box tickets," screamed the voice on the other end of the walkie-talkie.

She continued to plod up a series of stairs instead of taking the elevator, "Some crasshole jammed up the elevators, so I am hot footing it. Almost there now boss." Leifang passed a sign on the wall that said in Chinese, "3F WEST."

Meanwhile the west wing elevator at the north side of the building had its doors open. When the doors would try to close, they would reach a point and then open back up again. That is because there was a long metal bar preventing them from closing. Someone wanted them to stay open for a speedy escape.

Leifang continued down the hall to a series of velvet ropes with a sign in Chinese that said, "Please wait to be seated." There was no line at the red rope, because there was no one there to seat anyone.

She lazily walked and took her time, passing by white pillars that held up the ceiling above her. Without noticing, she walked by one pillar that held a mysterious shadow next to it; a shadow that tucked itself into the wall further when Leifang approached.

Once Leifang arrived at the velvet rope she spoke into her walkie-talkie, "No one is here boss." After a moment, the angry boss yelled, "Where are those clowns? I am not paying them to disappear."

Little did they know their bodies were piled in a heap hidden in the darkness of a few lights broken by the assassin. Leifang uttered into the walkie-talkie, "I will keep an eye out for them boss."

She looked behind her further down the hall to the series of doors that each lead to a private balcony. It was mysteriously silent for an opera that the performance had not yet began.

When she turned back around to face the staircase there was no one. It was a red hall with white pillars that seemed eerie and cluster phobic. Leifang tried to ease herself by rubbing her own shoulders.

At some point Leifang's head cocked sideways a bit as she wondered out loud, "What is that?" She looked around at the empty hall and began to walk down the hall toward what she had seen.

She then stopped and gazed at a small metal ball on the floor next to the pillar where the shadow had hid earlier. After Leifang reached down and picked up the metallic ball, she stood back up. That is when pins came out of the metallic ball and jammed their needles straight into Leifang's hand.

The pins went back into the ball as she screamed, "Ow." She was forced to immediately drop the ball as a reflex before she cradled her hand. After that, she felt woozy and collapsed to the ground.

As consciousness faded from her, she grabbed her microphone and spoke into it, "Boss?" There was an answer, "What is it Leifang?" She would have replied back, but she was already out. Her arm fell to the side and still had a grasp of the walkie-talkie.

A foot wrapped in cloth stepped down on her wrist and a hand grabbed the walkie-talkie away from her.

Back in the tiny room in the bowels of the theater Jann Lee told Liu Kang, "Unless you have something more concrete to offer us, we are going to have to ask you to leave." After that Jann Lee turned around and began to walk away from Liu only to call out, "Your ride is here anyway!"

The five bouncers took Liu Kang up from his seat and removed him from the table. After a moment of rushing him upstairs, the large bouncers threw him out the back doors where there were officers waiting for them. Liu was handcuffed behind his back and Jann Lee stood behind Kang and said, "I am not totally heartless Liu Kang; I do have charity in me."

Jann Lee threw him some paper money to the ground and said, "That is charity for giving us the greatest amusement that we have ever had on the job." He then looked smug and said, "Maybe you can see the opera next time it is in the country."

As authorities took Jann Lee away in handcuffs, Jann Lee heard something over his walkie-talkie, "Helena is about to take the stage." He acknowledged the walkie-talkie in Chinese and said, "Understood."

Jann Lee wished Liu, "Goodbye Kang; buy yourself some new clothes before you come into my town again." He then told his bouncers, "Back inside boys."

Liu Kang was stuffed into a small white police car with a single blue light on top of it. He did not resist his captors instead he uttered, "They were fools to doubt your will Lord Raiden, just as I was."

Inside of the theater, Helena had taken the stage and in front of a crowd of thousands that Liu Kang said would die that night. The assassin watched the curtains go up from the shadows of a balcony. In front of the assassin were two dead people; a man and a woman that Jann Lee had checked for weapons earlier that night.

Their pale skin was turning even whiter as they sat without clapping. They were the only three people in the audience not clapping, but no one could see the assassin in the shadows under a series of broken lights.


	5. Chapter 5: The Assassin

CHAPTER 4: LIU KANG

CHAPTER 5: THE ASSASSIN

From the balcony anyone could see the important members attending in the audience. Seated in the center of the first row was the red haired woman that Leifang thought was a princess. Somewhere in the center was the short bleach blonde hair of Tina next to her father's horse shoe of a hair line.

In front of them all was the sky eyed Helena who began to softly sing the opening song of her first performance since her mother's death. The red curtain was up and the security was on high alert after what had happened in France nearly one year ago.

Jann Lee was on the interior monitoring for any action. One of the members of security next to him received a call on his walkie-talkie and gave it to Jann Lee who asked in Chinese, "Can this wait until after dinner break?"

The member of security replied, "Boss asked for you Jann."

Jann Lee took the walkie-talkie and asked, "I was just about to go on dinner break."

The man at the other end of the walkie-talkie was irate and in a panic, "Why is your walkie-talkie off? We have people that have not checked in yet and they are five minutes late."

"Boss," started Jann Lee, "They will report in once they get downstairs."

The boss was still in a panic, "I want you to take some people up to the west wing of the third floor and check where they are?"

Jann Lee spoke into the walkie-talkie and wondered in Chinese, "Is there not someone closer that could check on it?"

"There should be," replied the boss, "But there is not! No one on the roof, no one on that wing; no one is responding to me!"

With a smile on his face Jann Lee uttered, "Maybe they all have dates. Have you checked the bathrooms?"

Over the walkie-talkie, Jann Lee could hear what sounded like a stream of smoke leave the boss's mouth before the boss said, "Leifang has not answered either. Maybe that will motivate you to get your overpaid ass up to the third floor and check on the crew."

Jann Lee took his cell phone out of his pocket and scrolled down a list of contacts to call Leifang. Her phone was ringing, but she was not conscious to hear it. She was amongst the pile of bodies at the end of a hall in the darkness. The cell phone rang over and over as the boss wondered, "Are you moving yet Jann Lee?"

He put away his cell phone and said, "Yes Sir, we are on our way." He tossed the walkie-talkie back to a member of security and said, "You are with me." Then he pointed to another large man in a black suit and said, "You too!"

Just as the three of the men were about to exit into the lobby, Jann Lee noticed something; a balcony with no one in it. That was a suspicious sight in a sold out theater. Jann Lee asked his cohort, "Why is that box empty? This place is sold out."

His cohort in security stopped to say, "Ever think that someone could have bought a ticket and not shown up?"

Jann Lee grabbed his own walkie-talkie and turned it on with the twist of a knob. He told the boss, "We have an empty box on the third floor."

There was no answer from the boss for a moment. Then the man uttered in a calm voice, "Avoid that box." It was a man's voice but slightly different than his boss's voice.

Jann Lee spoke into his walkie-talkie again, "Boss you are breaking up. Repeat that one more time." There was no response, until Jann Lee asked, "Boss? Are you there?"

The voice at the other end uttered, "Stay where you are." Jann Lee bolted to the elevators with the two members of security following him. He pressed the buttons to get an elevator to his floor, but there was no time in Jann Lee's mind.

He has sprinted up the stairs before; it was part of his daily workout routine, so he sprinted up three flights of stairs. The two other members of security followed, just not nearly as fast.

Once Jann Lee was up the stairs he counted the doors to the boxes. The hallway was eerily calm, but that was either because of a shift change at the start of the performance or because something was dreadfully wrong.

Jann Lee called to his members of security as they sluggishly worked their way toward him out of breath. Jann Lee wondered, "This is the door right?"

One of them uttered from a doubled over position, "I do not know, you were the one that spotted the empty box."

With his backup on the way, Jann Lee slid a card key into the door and flung it open. The eight people inside were shocked at the interruption. He gave an apology in Chinese and pulled the door shut again.

After that he waved his men forward as he said, "Wrong box." The three men then all lined up at the next door down the line. Jann Lee slid his security card in the lock of the door as his two partners stood next to the door with their backs to the wall.

With the twist of the handle, Jann Lee flung the door open and charged in with his men behind him. There was no one there, except eight bodies on the floor.

Jann Lee wondered, "What is going on here?"

The three men looked around for any sign of what could have happened, but they were blissfully unaware of someone that hid right above their heads. It was a mysterious man dressed head to toe in white ninja attire that had his back to the ceiling and all four of his limbs pushing against four columns to keep himself from falling.

Jann Lee came over his walkie-talkie and asked, "Who is this? And what is going on?"

The only response was a calm male voice that spoke in Chinese, "Sit back and watch the show."

That is when one of the two members of security noticed a shadow briefly overcome the light. It was the white ninja's elbow that briefly covered the light and he was forced to drop to the ground on the member of security.

The mean was quickly unconscious after the white hooded ninja flung the man head first into one of the columns. Helena's beautiful singing voice filled the theater as the second member of security attacked the ninja.

That second man was quickly flipped with his arm to the ground where the white ninja put his knee across the man's neck. Jann Lee could see the ninja covered from head to toe in a crisp white garb. The only thing not covered were the ninja's arms, hands and eyes. He wore baggy pants that were tapered across the shins with his footwear.

The ninja unsheathed his sword and pointed it at the neck of Jann Lee as he was forced to watch the ninja put his comrade to sleep. The man clutched at the ninja's leg to try and push him off, but it was no use. After growing red in the face the man was unconscious along with almost everyone else in the room.

Jann Lee had his hands up and slightly to the side. His face had a scowl on it as anger overcame him.

The ninja uttered something in Japanese, but Jann Lee could only retort, "I do not understand you."

What he did not know is that the mysterious ninja said, "I am here to stop an assassination."

With the sword still pointed at Jann Lee's throat he said, "Wanna point that thing somewhere else?" After that was said there was what sounded like gunfire that came from inside the main hall of the theater.

Jann Lee ducked and protected his spiky haired head while he looked into the crowd of people. They were all screaming and when Jann Lee looked back to the white ninja, he had vanished.

The ninja was gone and Jann Lee looked over the railing of the balcony to see a smothering mass of bodies. Everyone wearing black, he could only make out the large Bass Armstrong protecting his daughter with his giant body.

It was complete chaos on the floor and Jann Lee looked directly across from his balcony to see someone step out of the shadows behind two dead concert goers. Jann Lee was at the east wing, while the assassin was at the west wing.

There was security covering Helena and screaming into walkie-talkies for backup just like a year before. It was panic from everyone but the people that knew what was going on. Jann Lee did not know what to do, except look for where both the white ninja and the shadowy assassin had disappeared to.

On stage there was a heavy blue fog that was covering it completely. The thick blue fog rolled off the stage to the floor and grew closer to the audience that was already in a panic. Helena and the members of security were completely engulfed in the fog and disappeared to Jann Lee who had an overhead view.

Jann Lee asked into his walkie-talkie, "Can anyone tell me what is going on down there? Is Helena being evacuated?" The thick blue fog covered everything, and China's wealthy and elite began to disappear within it.

The fog had swallowed the first few rows as the theater began to clear out. Jann Lee began to scream out down below, "Everyone remain calm! This is a smoke screen." In reality he had no idea what it was, but that was his best to ease the panic that was happening.

Panic quickly turned into wonder as the fog began to take shape. The fog maneuvered itself into the air and soon covered the back wall of the stage.

The people in the fog emerged unharmed, but coughing. Their panic subsided and turned to wonder as people paused to look upon the wonder of the fog.

It defied gravity and nature as it clung to the wall behind the stage. The center of the fog began to slowly rotate and over the period of half a minute, the cloud was turned into an awe inspiring swirl.

Jaws dropped, men adjusted their wigs, and women touched their chests in amazement. The theater had stopped as they all watched. Then the voice came over Jann Lee's walkie-talkie and said calmly and clearly in English, "Nah mate; it's a portal."


	6. Chapter 6: Quan Chi, Shinnok &theMutants

CHAPTER 6: SHINNOK, QUAN CHI & THE MUTANTS

CHAPTER 6: SHINNOK, QUAN CHI & THE MUTANTS

The theater was captivated by the stage. Not because of Helena's singing, even she was silenced in amazement at the blue portal. The swirling blue fog was luminescent and made the faces of the Chinese notables take on a blue hue. It was beautiful.

Helena shook off her French bodyguards and stood tall in front of the portal. Her body was blue, but to everyone directly behind her, they could only see a shadow.

Her bodyguards tried to pull her back from the portal, but she shook away from them and extended her arm. There she was at arms length from the portal with the flat of her palm almost caressing the blue fog.

They questioned, "Helena?" She was mystified and so were the bodyguards. Even Jann Lee atop the balcony on the third floor could not help but look at it.

Then there was a flocculation in the portal. The center of it turned from an awe inspiring blue to a dark black that made Helena shudder. The others grew worried too, but Helena looked away and specifically said, "Get me out of here."

Bass stood in the crowd and held his daughter behind him. Tina poked her head out and said in her thick southern drawl, "I can't see dad." He took his sunglasses out of his pocket and put them on. The large black lenses reflected the image of the portal as it grew darker in color.

Still at the center, the fog was black and growing larger as many of Helena's bodyguards tried to get her off stage to safety. Other members of her crew stayed on stage merely staring into the abyss.

There was another flocculation; a circle of electricity that lit up the portal and shocked a frightened audience. The people cowered down a bit, and then came the second flicker of electricity from inside the portal. Then the entire portal flickered as if lightning had gone off from inside.

Those that cowered in fear were right to. Others like Bass that boldly looked into the light were the first to be incinerated. From the portal came an immense burst of flame that sent a wave of fire into the theater.

The flame went over Bass's head as he smothered Tina to protect her from the giant blast of fire. Nearly everyone in the theater was engulfed in flames. The balconies were set on fire, and each of the red velvet theater chairs were glowing with flames.

Most of the attendees were screaming and covered in fire except for a select few that were in the first row. The blast of fire had come out the center of the room and moved like a cone wider and wider.

Jann Lee was quick to dodge the flames that blew past him, but even his balcony was on fire. There were no fire extinguishers in the box, so he burst out of the room away from the ten unconscious bodies.

In the east wing hallway of the third floor there was sheer panic. Men and women were flooding out of their boxes, some were on fire, all of them were screaming, and the only way to the fire extinguisher was through them all.

Jann Lee had head up a sea of four hundred people to get to a fire extinguisher; an extinguisher that was already being used by a large man. The large man in a tuxedo told him in Chinese, "I had it first." His hair had a streak of dyed blonde in it.

Even if the large man had the extinguisher first, Jann Lee gave him two of the quickest punches anyone will ever see and tripped the man with his left foot. The large man went down without even realizing he was punched.

The glorified bouncer Jann Lee grabbed the fire extinguisher and raced over to the box he had just been in. He tried to open the door, but alas, he needed the card key. He fumbled trying to find it, before he just slammed his foot into the door near the handle to break in.

He dashed into the burning balcony box and extinguished the flames as one of his security comrades was trying to put out the fire with his coat.

Meanwhile, on the floor, Bass asked Tina, "Are you okay baby girl?"

"Get off me, ya bit lug," was the only thing he heard from beneath of him. Once they got up, Bass almost tried to brush her off, but he realized not to. She brushed herself off as she muttered, "Ma left cause you smothered her too."

There was pandemonium with the enter theater on fire from the inside. Fire alarms began to blare, but there was no interior sprinkler system with one of the city's oldest buildings.

"Dad you're on fire," said Tina as she tried to pat out her father's sleeve. Bass didn't care; he merely grabbed his tuxedo by the left cuff and tore off the entire sleeve. He then threw it to the ground and put out the flame with a single stomp of his foot.

Tina put out the flames on her father's back. Once the fire on Bass was out, he tore off his right sleeve too and said, "They gotta match."

When she turned around to face the rest of the theater away from the state, Tina put her hand to her mouth and with her breath taken away, she quietly said, "Oh my." She turned her head to her father and still with her hand near her mouth, she said, "Dad what's happening here?"

Bass grit his fists and looked to the portal and said, "We're under attack sugar! It could come from anywhere and it just did!" He then shook his fist toward the portal where they could see in front the charred husks that were once Helena's bodyguards.

Helena stood tall from the side of the stage beyond the reach of the flames. She was only in a daze at the carnage at the building on fire. Her bodyguards grabbed her by the biceps to try to escort her off stage and away.

Bass and Tina had their backs to the portal. Jann Lee was busy with his comrade putting out the fire in the box, and Helena was on stage looking off. They were all too busy to notice a shadow forming at the bottom of the swirling blue portal.

It looked like a shadow on water and it grew larger until it formed a humanoid figure. It was a blurred vision of what was cloaked in the fog. No one had noticed the figure form, but just as it was the size of a man, someone stepped through the portal.

His head was a grotesque white and looked devoid of all pigment except for black that shrouded his eyes. The black that shrouded his eyes extended up to a tall thin point over each eye. There was no hair on his body and he wore a strange blue suit made of cloth and metal. His chest had dark metallic with blades that formed fins going over each collar bone. The armor of his chest had two red triangular lights and a strange medallion on his chest. The stranger's hands were exposed, but he wore dark metallic arm guards that each had two blades on them and boots to match.

At first he had difficulty breathing, but it was not the smoke in the air, it was because this was a totally new atmosphere to him. At his left side was a pair of swords.

He first surveyed the arena, completely unnoticed by anyone, although he stood at center stage. This was like his homeland. The fire, the smoke, the frenzy that everyone was in to save their own lives and the weeping for those that had just died in the wave of fire.

Moments passed until the people concluded what they were doing. The building was still on fire, but the teary faces looked to the stage. Jann Lee stopped a moment and handed the fire extinguisher to his comrade. Bass and Tina turned around and finally Helena and her French bodyguards all turned their attention to the stranger from the portal.

Without a smile on his face he raised his hairless eyebrow to glance from his scowl. He introduced himself, "I am arch sorcerer of the Netherealm, Quan Chi." His language was a garbled mess, but through Quan Chi's immense sorcery, everyone understood him.

He spoke again in his universally understood language, "I introduce to you Lord Shinnok; fallen elder god and ruler of the Netherealm." Everyone watched the blue portal as a much larger shadow formed in the fog. Soon after that, two huge humanoid beasts stepped through the portal.

Both of them were pale white covered with twisted lumps of mutated skin and twisted bone. The mutated humanoids stood much taller than Quan Chi even with them hunched over from the weight of something on their backs; Their bodies almost bare except for a little garb covering their pride.

Each one of them had a single visible eye that glowed a yellowish tint. Each had an overabundance of skin that covered their hairless face. It was a hideous sight to the people in the theater, the others just stood paralyzed in amazement at the creature beasts and their thick hoof like finger nails.

Soon after they appeared, a shoulder mounted chariot came through the portal with a man atop of it. Lord Shinnok with his body in regal purple attire with armor covered in a fine red material. His armor only covered his chest and had an extra long cloth hanging down to the gold trimmed knees of his boots. Around his neck was a giant gold collar that looked like the hood of a cobra. His wrists were covered with gold bands and atop his head was a tall crown of metal wrapped in red material.

His skin was pale and devoid of color. His eyes glowed purple energy from them. As for the throne itself, it was carried on the shoulders of his mutated followers.

The thrown continued to move forward until all four of the creatures that carried him had come through the portal.

Once they were all through, the beasts put the throne down and remained hulking masses of muscle that surrounded Lord Shinnok. He then stood up from his throne and even on his chariot; only his crown was taller than the mutants that carried him.

Bullets were fired from the hand guns of Helena's bodyguards. They fired into the mass of mutated flesh that stood next to Shinnok.

The beasts did nothing more than anger the humanoid beasts. The two hulking humanoids at Shinnok's right flank charged toward the men and Quan Chi leapt into action with his swords drawn.

Four guns were fired, with three men shooting into the fleshy skin of the mutants and one bodyguard shooting at Quan Chi. The bullets aimed at Quan Chi missed and the others merely pelted into the mutant's thick skin.

When Quan Chi came back down to the stage from his mighty leap, he slashed one of his swords down into one guard's shoulder, and then a quick twirl sent his head from the guard's body. He smoothly sliced his blades into the next bodyguard, which sent blood from his black suit.

With bullets flying, and large creatures running around, the entire theater continued to evacuate as Helena hid in the darkness behind a flaming curtain.

As for Helena's two other bodyguards, one of them was kicking and screaming lifted off the ground by a mutant. The bodyguard's waist was in the single handed grasp of the mutant until it slowly bit into the man's head until a gush of brains and blood could be seen.

The last bodyguard was torn in two by the other mutant, but not in a quick motion, this was a slow twisting motion with the man screaming for death to come soon.

With his two mutants feasting on human flesh, Shinnok proclaimed in a universally understood speech, "I claim this world as my own."

Bass stepped forward unafraid at the man on stage. Even off the stage, Bass felt like a big man, even if Shinnok had all of the power. Pointing his finger up at Shinnok, Bass yelled, "You and me one on one!"

Tina was at Bass's other arm trying to pull him away and pleading, "Let's just git out of here dad!" Bass reluctantly agreed and looked to a fire exit in the west wing of the theater.

Through the use of magic, Shinnok could clearly understand the English that Bass spoke and so the ruler of the Netherealm uttered, "I have the power to manipulate;" in that statement his mutants grew bigger and uglier, "Reality."

Two of the mutants grew larger teeth from their lower jaw; teeth that grew like ram horns curled around its head. Other mutants grew wider, one with a much larger belly and still a third had one arm grow longer and muscular than the other. Long hair grew out of one mutant's head and coiled behind its back to its knees. They were now four distinct mutants, one with a strong arm, one with hair, one with ram tusks and one with a giant pot belly.

A tuxedoed man that ran away down the isle from the front row caught Shinnok's attention. He used his infinite power to melt the man's skin off without hurting the tuxedo.

Screams could be heard echoing over the fire sirens. The man was still alive and pleaded for death in Chinese as he continued to crawl downt he isle. Lord Shinnok would not let him die.

The four mutants jumped off the stage and into the crowd. Two of them landed deep into the fire that erupted in a mess of chairs, ambers and charred bodies that flew into the air.

Each mutant grabbed at the well dressed people as they ran and ate their heads in chewy bites.

Shinnok rose his hand to point at the theater with his hand fanned out as he said, "I am not here to conquer your world. I am merely here to annihilate all life on it. Raiden will see his subjects slaughtered at my command and then he will pay dearly for imprisoning me in the Neatherealm."

Jann Lee remained horrified as he looked down from the balcony. He gripped the railing and remembered his mistake that sent Liu Kang away from the building. Behind him, his security comrade was dragging the unconscious bodies outside to the hallway.

He took out his cell phone and called Leifang's number once again. After briefly letting it ring, he rushed out the door in a burst of speed. He took off down the hall to the flight of stairs that went down.

The hallways were virtually empty of people that had all been evacuated, except for a few that had died from injuries making their exit. There was no time for Jann Lee to help them.


	7. Chapter 7: The Agency

CHAPTER 7: THE AGENCY

CHAPTER 7: THE AGENCY

Outside of the burning theater were fire trucks, swat vans and police cars to control the crowd of worried onlookers. Ambulances were parked far away from the building, because they were not a priority. The only priority was dealing with the threat inside. Everyone in the building was expendable, no matter how wealthy or famous they were.

Even in the sprinkle of rain, the fire could not be contained. Half a dozen men on ladder trucks sprayed the fire from above. There was no thunder in the air, only smoke that bellowed into the darkened sky.

On the ground a sleek blonde woman cut through the crowd in a black cap being followed by an associate in a trench coat. Her red lips yelled to her associate behind her as her face kept a cold scowl on her perfect face. Her blonde hair streamed out from the back of her cap in a pony tail that was soaked over a black leather jacket.

Her heavy black boots stomped through shallow rain puddles and she marched straight up to the Chinese officers working crowd control. Her tall dark associate followed her with a face that clearly showed his distain for the rain.

With a swift motion, she ducked beneath of a solid wooden police barricade and flashed the police her special badge. The Beijing police had never seen any badge that looked like that, nor had they ever seen a blonde officer before. Let alone an associate with dark skin that was so tall he towered over the crowd with broad shoulders that made him look as wide as a refrigerator.

She belted out in Chinese, "Who is in charge here?" One of the officers pointed to a man with grey hair and a mustache that wore a yellow rain coat like the other officers.

All of the police let her stride by and her tall associate went over top of the barricade with his trench coat tied at his waist. Once they passed, the authorities gossiped, "Is that the stripper for the commander's birthday?" With a hearty laugh, a man slipped under a barricade and made a run for the burning building.

He ran straight past the police trying to enter the front doors. Before anyone else could stop him, the blonde officer turned her head and threw a black baton at the man's legs.

The man tripped when the baton hit his ankles and fell to the steps of the grand theater. He was then tackled by police as the man screamed in Chinese, "Lord Shinnok has returned!"

The blonde official and her tall dark skinned associate merely looked at the man. The tall associate made a comment that no one but they could hear under the drizzling rain.

The man at the steps of the theater tore off his shirt as he screamed, "I am yours to command my lord!" His body was covered with strange symbols that were seared into his skin in horrible red marks.

As he tried to fight off the police, he was dragged away into a swat van. The commander was yelling at his officers, "See to it no one else jumps that barricade!"

From behind him, the blonde woman asked him in Chinese, "Are you in charge?"

He turned around in an angry tizzy and wondered in his native tongue, "Who the Hell are you?"

The blonde official answered, "The people that are going to pull your ass out of Hell's fire."

"I want some identification right now," he screamed in response.

Sonya pulled out her ID and said, "Lieutenant Sonya Blade, from the Ourtworld Investigation Agency." Her large associate had his shoulders up to his neck as she added, "And this is my second in command, Major Jackson Briggs."

The short commander commented, "Ah. Interpol told me that you had a tip, but they never said anything about you showing up here. Well your tip is mute, and I will thank you to get back behind the barricade for your own safety."

There was an unintentional giant smirk across the major's face. The commander ordered his men, "Get these two clowns behind the barricade!"

As soon as four short officers arrived, the major came to laughter and said something in English to them. Unfortunately, they could not understand, so the Chinese speaking commander asked, "What did he say?"

Sonya replied in Chinese, "I'm taking command of your men and resources." She then added, "But that is not what he said."

The commander barked, "Get them out of here!" As the officers closed in on the major his gloved hands took hold of his buttoned trench coat and ripped it from his body.

Jax yelled in English, "For your own safety, you better stay away." After that was said, he flung the black trench coat off of his broad body.

The officers and crowd were amazed and frightened of what Jax had beneath of his trench coat. His arms were made of metal, but not a cold skeletal metal, these were armored arms that had no shine under the cold rain. Instead they looked giant and fearsome as Jax took a defensive fighting stance toward the officers.

Sonya told him in English, "Nice theatrics."

He then replied, "We are at a theater."

The commander stepped to Sonya and wondered, "Why are you here? What is this?"

She retorted, "In there is a terrorist that comes from a land with no jurisdiction; and a man that probably has killed everyone in that building right there. We've been sent to send him back."

"Tell me then," said the commander as he looked up to her, "Is it just the two of you that are going to combat a man that obviously set off a bomb in there?" With a smile and the point of his finger to the roof tops of other buildings, he said, "We already have sharp shooters that are going to take him out."

Sonya yelled through the rain, "He can't be taken out." She then elaborated, "If he could, then that wave of fire would have killed him."

She had a valid point, but the commander wasn't going to listen to her.

Jax continued to stand off against the Chinese officers as the commander told her, "Your Outworld Investigation Agency means nothing to me. You go back to America where it means something."

She tried to tell him, "We received a tip that there would be an attack here." With an ease in her voice, she added, "We didn't make it in time. Now we have to clean it up or the entire world might end up in flames like this building."

He looked her cold in the eyes and raised his walkie-talkie to tell his shooters, "If you have a shot, take it."

"I have a shot Sir," said one of the shooters over the walkie-talkie.

The commander said, "Take it! Take the shot!"

Up on the rooftop was a pair of men, one with a rifle that had a rather large scope on it. The rifle was stabilized by two legs that met in a peak beneath of the gun barrel. His partner held a pair of binoculars and watched into the building.

With his breath held, the sniper in black attire pulled the trigger and fired a bullet from the high powered rifle. The bullet went straight through the side of Shinnok's head. There was blood that spattered and streamed through the air to the stage that he stood on.

His white skin tore from the impact of the bullet that went straight through his head. The bullet had gone straight through his temple and exited through his cheek.

The four giant mutants in the flaming building perked at the sound of the gun shot. There were yells from the spotter in Chinese, "One through the target!"

Before Quan Chi could turn to see Lord Shinnok with a bullet through his head, it was as if Shinnok manipulated time itself. Quan Chi's head turned quickly at the sound of the bullet, but through the manipulation of time, his head turned slowly. The spotter and sniper could both see Shinnok's head slowly turn and face them both.

Time had slowed down for the sniper and spotter as they realized that Shinnok was not dead. The slowing of time was only in their minds though. Then Shinnok's eyes glowed with a purple energy and his head quickly turned to its original position when he had been shot.

The bullet reversed itself and went back through Shinnok's cheek and out of his left temple then screamed back through the glass window and straight into the gun. The sniper's body slowly began to turn as the spotter asked in Chinese, "What the Hell?"

The sniper's body turned and fell to the side to reveal a missing red eye that was blackened with gory red blood. The back of his head was dark and smattered with chunks of skull and brain.

As for the rifle, the two lenses had been shattered from the return of the bullet.

The commander looked at Sonya's face that looked as if it had been chiseled to perfection. They could both hear the spotter scream in a panic, "Leigh has been shot!"

Sonya looked up toward the building the commander had pointed at to see the spotter get torn off the roof. The spotter was covered in a strange purple glow and battered against the brick wall of the theater. He was battered once, then twice, and on the third time he was yanked through the glass window with a scream.

The commander had seen the whole thing, along with Jax and the rest of the officers on the ground. With a worry in his voice, the commander told Sonya, "I do not know what you can do against that, but you have my permission to do it."


	8. Chapter 8: Invasion

CHAPTER 8: INVASION

CHAPTER 8: INVASION

Sonya boldly proclaimed in Chinese, "There is a portal in there that we need to shut down and close."

The commander asked, "And I hope that you know how to do it."

Sonya uttered, "Would we be here if we didn't?"

The grey haired commander commented, "It was gracious of you to come out of your ivory tower to help us."

"Look," said Sonya as she clutched one of his shoulders, "Its everyone on the line, no matter what country, race or religion. They will not stop until everyone is enslaved or dead."

That left the commander to retort, "We have not heard their demands yet."

Sonya told him in Chinese, "We know the threat; we have dealt with it a few times before."

"Our priority right now is to get that fire put out," said the commander.

The lieutenant had other ideas, "No, we need to get in there."

"I told you that you have my permission to do what you need to, but I am not risking my men," said the commander, before he added, "I do not know what reality you are dealing with, but there are procedures here that I do not have to explain to you."

Sonya did not even try to rationalize the horrible truth. The men and their mutants inside were from a different reality; a reality that they can control and manipulate through magic.

The commander elaborated, "I have men outside to contain the threat. The building will probably collapse in on itself and kill the assailants."

Sonya, Jax and the commander each looked to the front doors of the theater. The commander spoke up and said in Chinese, "If you're going in, you'll follow the leader."

Men wearing black tactical armor lined up at the pillars of the front of the building. The back of the building was no different. Their automatic weapons were always directed to the glass waiting for any signs of movement. Each one of them had on a gas mask to compensate for the black smoke inside the building.

One of the men in black armor yelled out, "Movement!" Each man at the pillars steadied their weapons and looked sharp. They all saw something move in the black cloud of smoke. No one could tell what it was though.

Another man screamed out in Chinese, "Over here!" Everyone's attention moved, and moved again, when someone else added, "There it is!" They all saw the same thing moving at different places inside of the lobby.

Sonya pulled out her sidearm and told her partner in English, "Get ready." He pulled out twin pistols from holsters between his arms as Sonya added with a grit in her teeth, "This is gonna be bad."

The giant face of one of the mutants could be seen for a split second from out of the cloud. It was not enough of the creature's face to see what its intensions were, before it darted back into the black cloud.

Everyone's focus was at the series of front doors as the crowd gasped from their vision of the creature. Everything grew silent as Sonya watched with her gun pointed at the door and Jax towered above her with both pistols pointed to the glass.

Suddenly, a window next to the doors shattered and a hulking mutant came barreling out. No one had expected it to come out of anything but the doors.

It was the mutant with teeth that curled to the side of its fat head. There were spot lights on the grotesquely pale creature and it shielded itself from the brightness.

Screams and panic overcame the crowd just before machine gun fire from the team of officers riddled through the mutant's twisted body. It first dashed back toward the front of the building to scatter the armored officers.

With a swift motion the beast put back its left arm and backhanded an officer that sent him spinning through the glass into the black cloud of smoke.

The mutant screeched in the pain of the bullets as it contorted its body back around to another officer in black. Before the officer knew it, he was snatched up in the giant hand of the mutant.

In a crazed dementia, the mutant recoiled away from the light and held its head with one hand in the pain of its existence. Then the mutant heaved the officer over the heads of others and into a spot light. The light was broken and flipped onto its back.

The commander was stunned and could only utter, "I have never." With that said his head nodded slowly back and forth, "What is that?"

Sonya was too busy to hear him, because she was busy unloading a clips worth of bullets at the mutant that no longer had a hostage.

In order to avoid the gun fire, the mutant leapt onto the side of the theater with its back to police. Then it spun its body around and still clung on to the building's gorgeous architecture.

Bullets hit the stone pillars and shattered through glass as the mutant tried to get away. Jax kept firing, but Sonya went back to the commander and took him by the shirt, "That is what we are up against!"

She pointed to the mutant as it writhed in pain from the bullets and the spotlights. The commander continued to be dumbfounded for a moment, before he yelled, "Kill that fucking thing!"

The mutant pounced to the ground next to a police car and overturned it with one huge motion. The car rolled over and scattered officers.

Bullets were obviously doing nothing, but making the mutant into a gory mess. Jax threw both pistols to the ground and slammed one metal fist into the other metal fist and said, "I'm gonna fuck this bitch up."

He stepped forward, unafraid of the bullets that soon ended when Sonya yelled, "Hold your fire!"

The commander stepped in front of her in an angry amazement, "Is he crazy? I'll see to it he is arrested for that!" The commander looked to Jax and quietly said, "After his funeral."

Jax fought with the mighty mutant and even though Jax towered over most men on Earth, he was only as tall as the mutant's chest. The mutant's chest when it was hunched over.

The battle started when Jax slammed his steel fist into the mutant's left thigh. The mutant was sent to one knee, but swat Jax away just like everyone else.

He flew through the air and smashed into the side of a white van that had, "POLICE" written in Chinese on the side.

As for the mutant, it diverted its attention to the crowd as it overturned a barricade and ran into the crowd with its head down.

Civilians scattered, but the unlucky ones were trampled and rammed by the mutant's tusks. There was a sea of onlookers knocked to the side or trampled under foot.

Once the mutant was far enough into the crowd, it snatched one of the onlookers and heaved him into the air. The small man screamed as his body flew end over end in the air until finally coming down and getting punched by the mutant.

The man's body was twisted when the mutant's fist hit him and he went flying backward into the crowd.

Jax came back over to Sonya holding his head. He told her in English, "We don't have time to corral that beast."

Sonya retorted, "You're right, we need to get in there and close that portal before anything else comes through."

The commander was yelling in Chinese for his men to, "Arrest that man!" No one was listening to him.

Sonya turned to the commander and told him, "We need to go in there; Now!" She walked right past the grey haired commander and grabbed two gas masks from the back of the smashed van.

The police tried to wrangle the mutant as it tore through the street of Beijing. Meanwhile, the men in black tactical armor were ready to enter the front of the building. Each of them had on a gas mask with their faces seen through large masks of clear plastic.

At the front of the line next to the door, the leader commented into his walkie-talkie, "Go! Go! Go!" All at once, teams of armor clad officers smashed into the building. Doors were battered through, windows were smashed into and Sonya was right behind them all with a gas mask on.

Jax was tossed a gas mask from Sonya and quickly put it on. He then quickly grabbed an automatic gun off of a dead tactical officer and followed Sonya into the smoky lobby.

The commander muttered in Chinese, "I hope those American cowboys do not shoot my men."

Inside of the smoky lobby, they waited as the leader asked in Chinese, "Where is the target." After a second went by, he heard a reply, "Main hall, center stage." The smoke was quickly dissopating as they stood ready at the smashed doors of the lobby.

The leader noticed the stream of damp blonde hair and he was distracted. He yanked her shoulder to make sure they were facing and stuck his gun in her face before he asked in Chinese, "Who are you?"

She replied to him with his native tongue, "I am an extra gun here."

He asked her, "Can you follow orders?"

"If I have to," she said.

The leader then asked and gestured with his gun to Jax, "What about him? Does that dumb ox even understand Chinese?"

Jax pulled the safety to the gun and replied in Chinese for the first time, "Well enough to crush you for saying that."

The leader was silent and gave visual commands to his man. He indicated that he was going into the main hall. The main hall that was full of poisonous black smoke and flames.

He ducked to a belly crawl to avoid the heat and he went further into the main hall.

There was a brief moment of silence over the crackle of flames. One of the men was worried about the team leader. He anxiously awaited any word from the leader over the walkie-talkie. There was nothing.

From silence to panic, the lower half of the leader's body was thrown out into the lobby. Blood, gore and intestine soiled the red carpet as the pair of legs and waist rolled.

The men were in shock and fear at their leader's lower half.

Sonya took charge and told the men in Chinese, "I'm in charge. Anyone else got a problem with that, they can take the lead and go in there first."

There were no problems, and she took a walkie-talkie off the waist of the dead leader, just before she she disappeared into the black smoke of the main hall. Shortly there after there were gun shots and Sonya's broken communication in English, "There's another one!"

After more gun fire from inside the main hall, Jax took the walkie-talkie from the nervous officer and screamed into it, "Where are ya babe?"

From out of the black smoke came one of the mutants barreling through. The mutant slammed down on the hard red carpeted floor face first.

Sonya followed the hideous creature and pounced on top of it with her sidearm blasting into its face. The mutant tried to get up as Sonya had her hand on the mutant's neck, her knee on its chest and her gun in its face.

The other members of the squad put the mutant to rest with eight automatic weapons with Jax using the ninth. Finally, the hideous creature with a single long arm gave up. Its body fell limp to the ground once more. However, it was not dead; instead it was giving large, lumbering breaths as it choked on its own black blood.

Then Sonya noticed there was more black smoke flowing from the main hall. She turned around to look at the opening between the battered doors. Without warning, the black smoke was sucked back away from the team and then it completely parted leaving the room smoke free.

Standing at the center stage was Shinnok with his arms wide open as if he had used his evil magic to spread the smoke. Between them and the stage were flames that were only a flicker from the raging inferno that they were before. The smell of charred flesh was also evident, but fortunately everyone had on a gas mask.

Near Shinnok was Quan Chi and the two mutants stood amongst the crowd of charred corpses. The mutant with extremely long hair smashed its fist into the chairs that sent fragments of expensive seats into the air.

Still in front of the blue swirling portal, Shinnok announced in a universally known language, "You have the fortune to have arrived at the same time as the first wave of my army."

He gestured a wave over his shoulder for his army to enter through the portal. There was a large black shadow that covered the bottom of the entire portal. It was larger than a single figure. Instead it was hundreds of figures clumped together in a wave of lines.

Shinnok said with a cold stare at Sonya, "This is the army that will annihilate all life from this world."

The eight men stepped forward to get a better view of what was coming through the portal. There were four men on the left, and four on the right of the mutant's large body. Sonya stood up and walked into the main hall with Jax towering behind her.

Without any black smoke in the place, she took off her gas mask and Jax unmasked as well. Sonya's clip ejected from her gun and she loaded another as she asked in English, "Does anybody remember the days where we'd just fight one on one?"


	9. Chapter 9: Raiden

CHAPTER 9: RAIDEN

CHAPTER 9: RAIDEN

Inside of a temple made of yellow brick that was as ancient as China itself was a humble grey haired man. A man pushing a broom from one room to the next; with his hair draped down. He wore a peaked triangular hat that completely covered his face.

It was near dawn with the red sun rising just over a horizon of beautiful tree tops. This meager man was diligent at work to clean the dirt and grime off of the floor that was almost as old as mankind.

Although he was meager and draped in raggedy robes, another man bowed to him. It could be seen in the light of the torches illuminating the room.

The meager broom pusher said in Chinese with half a laugh, "I am no one that you should bow to."

From a knelt stance with his arms crossed, the other man disagreed, "I know it is you Lord Raiden."

The broom pusher did not even stop sweeping, but he did say with a chuckle, "Lord Raiden, lives on a mountain top somewhere that he can throw his lightning volts down on the mortal world to light up the night sky."

"I have a message for him," spoke the man still on one knee with his head bowed down before the broom pusher.

To reply, the grey haired man uttered, "Then you should pray here like the rest of your Shaolin Monks."

"How can Lord Raiden hear my prayers from his mountain top," wondered the other man as he raised his head to look upon the grey hair that dangled from under the triangular hat.

As he continued to sweep, the broom pusher stated, "Because Raiden knows everything that happens on this mortal world of Earth." He swept the dirt into a pile near the corner of the torch lit chamber, before he added, "This is the end of days. The time approaches when the Neatherealm will rise and flood the world of the living to consume and destroy it."

In the light of the torches, the man on the floor revealed his face to be Liu Kang. He asked the broom pusher, "And Lord Raiden will do nothing to save us?"

"Lord Raiden cannot help you, because he has already been defeated by the invader Shinnok millions of years ago," said the broom pusher. With more sweeps, he explained, "Shinnok was a rogue God that was punished by the other Gods to roam the Neatherealm for all of eternity."

Once the broom pusher turned to sweep a different direction, with a little flail of his long robe, he continued, "Shinnok was bent on killing everything living on this blue world of Earth. That is why he was given what he wanted when he was sent to a realm full of the dead."

The broom pusher proclaimed still in Chinese, "If Lord Raiden clashed with Shinnok again; it would extinguish all intelligent life on Earth as it had done before." Liu Kang's eyebrows lowered and he looked angry at the meager broom pusher.

He then added, "There was an entire race of reptilian inhabitants with acid for blood and a predatorily society that were all obliterated between the battle of Shinnok and Lord Raiden. The only things that survived were small mammals."

The broom pusher took a step forward to Liu Kang and looked down upon him. The broom pusher spoke, "And now the fate of this world rests in the hands of the primates that evolved from what was left after the great battle."

"You must be their champion," said the broom pusher, only to have Liu retort, "They did not believe me when I tried to stop them."

The grey haired man commented, "If they do not believe that you will save this flying blue world inhabited by psychotic apes, then rely on your friends Liu Kang. This is not the first time that you have stepped into battle. You have had victories over emperors, sorcerers and four armed man-beasts."

Liu Kang stood up to face the mysterious man and boldly proclaimed, "I will fight on my feet instead of dying on my knees hoping for Lord Raiden to save us."

With a gesture of the broom pusher's knuckles he pushed them against Liu's shoulder and said, "That's the spark I have always liked. Remember though to rely on your friends when strangers will not help."

Liu Kang asked, "Is that the moral to this?"

The broom pusher replied, "You will have more friends than you have ever known. You just need to find them Liu."

With electricity that made the grey haired man's eyes light up the room, he jammed a small electrical volt down into the pile of dirt. Then he transformed into a brilliant white light that sent electricity out of the room to leave Liu Kang alone.


	10. Chapter 10: Kung Lao

CHAPTER 10: KUNG LAO

Moments later dawn had risen and Liu Kang could be spotted racing across the courtyard of his monastery. The courtyard was decorated with beautiful trees, and stone statues carved generations ago.

Liu ran up a staircase to a platform he had been at every day of his life since joining the monastery. There he found dozens of monks in rows peaceful and silent. It was their morning meditation to reflect on their dreams.

Each monk was in an orange garb on a humble mat made of thin material. There were no eyes that faced Liu, but they heard him rush up the stairs.

An overweight monk in the back row mumbled in Chinese, "Herd of elephants." The monk had his long thick black hair tied behind in a tight bun. His mustache was long and draped over his belly.

Liu quietly walked between the row of monks toward the front. He made his way to friend and ally that had helped him in the past.

There he stood in front of him, perfectly silent. The monk he stood in front of had a shaved head that was just starting to grow dark hair again. His face was clean shaven and his eyes remained closed, focused on something else.

It was tranquil, birds were in the air and awake. Waters babbled from outside the temple and Liu shifted his stance as he waited.

From behind, the heavy hand of the overweight monk touched Liu's shoulder. When Liu turned his head, he was greeted by a stern look on the face of the man who had his finger up to signal, "shhh."

The overweight monk lead Liu away from the silent tranquility of the platform and back down the stairs.

Once they were down the stairs to a private area, Liu spoke up, "Master, I need two of your students."

The monk merely grunted to acknowledge as he folded his hands across his thick belly. He quickly belted out, "No." He then grumbled, "Why have you disturbed meditation?"

"There is great danger Master Bo Rai Cho," said Liu in Chinese.

Bo Rai Cho's belly jiggled with laughter as he retorted, "There are no worries in meditation, only clear focus. Together we are focused as one and we communicate together."

"Not everyone chooses to communicate as one Master," said Liu as he gave a brief bow.

The master gruffly said, "We are all one being, experiencing the same consciousness."

Liu spoke up, "I tried to warn Beijing what my premonitions told me."

"I warned you that they were too arrogant to listen," uttered Master Bo Rai Cho in Chinese, "Corruption of mind taints our consciousness. A few rotten apples spoil to bushel."

"I need Kung Lao and Kai," said Liu to his master only to hear, "No. You need to get rid of those rotten apples."

Liu told his master, "If I do not get the aide of Kung Lao and Kai, the entire basket of apples will become sauce."

His master began to pace with his hands still folded across his broad belly, "If that is what it takes for this world to learn. Then so be it."

Liu was emphatic when he sternly said, "I will not sit idly by and let that dark lord conquer Earth."

In a gruff voice, his master retorted, "You have already done too much for this ungrateful world my student. You have defeated an invading emperor twice and saved mankind. Now it is their turn to save themselves. Let their technology and weapons try to stop this new invader."

Liu wondered, "You want them dead do you not?"

"No," uttered the stern master, "I want them to grow, adapt and learn that their weapons and technology have no bearing on their survival." The master continued to pace as he uttered, "They will either learn this or die to leave the world to the untainted and uncorrupted."

"You could not possibly want that," said Liu in Chinese.

Bo Rai Cho replied, "I have seen my world destroyed be corruption and overrun by evil." He faced his student and uttered, "That is why I ran and have trained my students to prevent this corruption from ever overtaking this world."

Liu boldly told his master, "I am taking them with me back to Beijing with your blessing or not."

Bo Rai Cho wondered, "You would dare defy me?"

"I answer to a higher power," retorted Liu, "A master to you and I."

"He is only master of thunder," laughed Bo Rai Cho, "He is no master to me. We have free will my student."

"And I am using that free will to march into battle again," proclaimed Liu, before he added, "It is my destiny to save this world and all of the rotten apples in it."

His master approached closer to Liu and he whispered, "I have seen your destiny my dear student. I do not want you to go. Let someone else take your place to save this world."

Liu asked, "What have you seen master?"

"In a premonition, I have seen that this conqueror Shinnok has brought your impending doom," whispered Bo Rai Cho.

With a smile, his student uttered, "Then I will die trying."

"No," shook the head of Bo Rai Cho, "Your death will be in vain and lead to the destruction of all worlds. Lord Raiden has told me this, but has refused to tell you."

The young warrior told his master, "I need to go." With that he took off up the stairs and his master beckoned him, "Stay!"

Liu was already halfway up the stairs and he paused to let the words sink in from his master. He then continued up the stairs to the platform where the monks meditated.

He quickly walked to his friend Kung Lao in the front row, but what Liu did not know was that there was a presence there. No one else noticed the invisible presence that lurked in the open air of the courtyard.

There was nothing there, but Liu Kang and dozens of monks in orange garbs. However, hidden in the open air was a ruthless animal.

After Liu had passed by the back row of monks headed to the front, the head of one monk crumpled in on itself. The monk next to him had his head disappear, replaced by a bloody stump of a neck.

The next nearest monk lifted into the air in a bloody mess and was hurled toward the front row.

Tranquility was sent into complete chaos as the invisible force killed monk after monk. They were all in a panic and ran away from the corpses and beheaded bodies.

Liu turned around and Kung Lao stood up next to him. In Chinese, Kung Lao uttered, "You always bring an aura of death with you."

Ten monks were beheaded, bleeding, impaled and thrown around in bloody heaps.

Liu retorted, "What ever happened to hello?"

A body was then tossed toward the two of them. Kung Lao spun his body to the side to avoid the corpse, while Liu ducked down low to the ground in a prowling stance.

Once the body flew over him, Liu fiercely ran forward to the invisible force. The force tripped Liu and smacked him to the ground before it let out an inhuman screech that sent birds flying out of their trees.

Kung Lao stood at a stance ready to attack the invisible force, but instead he saw one of the trees sway as if a heavy invisible rock fell in it.

Then from the tree the invisible force leapt up to the wall of the temple. Small rocks and dust fell from the wall to the ground. The phenomenon moved up the wall as Kung Lao helped his friend off the ground.

They both kept their eyes on the trail of the invisible phenomenon until it subsided.

Liu asked, "Is it gone?"

Kung looked back at him and wondered, "How can we tell?"

Liu Kang looked around ready for a fight only to see the carnage of bloody bodies. As Liu looked around, Kung Lao stated, "It's not gone, it's just watching us."

Once Liu was done surveying the carnage, he angrily asked, "Where is Kai?"


End file.
